Ankara - Istanbul Railway Modernization Project To Be Financed By Loan Of Spain

ANKARA - The project of the General Directorate of State Railways (TCDD) for rehabilitation of railway between Ankara and Istanbul will be financed by the 400 million U.S. dollar loan to be provided by the Spanish government.
The loan will be released in two equal tranches. It will start to be used after the consent of the Council of Ministers.
Besides signalization, electrification and telecommunication works, new stations will be constructed in certain points during the railway between Ankara and Istanbul.
The railway will be reconstructed in a way that it enables rapid train service. Under the project, trains will go between Ankara and Istanbul in four and a half hours. Train journey takes seven to eight hours between Ankara and Istanbul currently.
The railway will be rehabilitated under the memorandum of understanding on economic and financial cooperation signed between Turkey and Spain in Ankara on February 20, 2002.
The memorandum of understanding was approved on March 6, 2002.